So for the last 10 days I’ve taken another goldsmiths suggestion to
me that I try “disposable nitrile gloves”. He claimed that just
after a few days of use his hands were no longer splitting from all
the hand washing we tend to do. Darned if he wasn’t correct. They
take a real beating. You can use them to buff, sand, yes…even set
stones. I was able to handle some 1.5 mm diamonds with no problem.
They are micro textured so things don’t slip through your hands. All
in all I’d say it was a very good suggestion. My hands are crack
free & feel great.

These are 100% pure rubber gloves. Not latex. I really don’t know if
someone who has a latex allergy would have a problem with these or
not. I paid $11.95 for a box of 100.

These are 100% pure rubber gloves. Not latex. I really don't know
if someone who has a latex allergy would have a problem with these
or not. I paid $11.95 for a box of 100.

Also, we have a lot of repeat buyers for the 3M Vetrap Bandaging
Tape as an alternative. It’s protects the fingers and yet it’s easy
to feel the piece being worked on. It is also inexpensive at $1.50
per roll. Instead of putting on a glove, you tear off a piece and
wrap it around the finger or hand you want to protect. Using this or
the rubber gloves is mostly a function of the job and personal
preference.

Also, we have a lot of repeat buyers for the 3M Vetrap
Bandaging Tape as an alternative. It's protects the fingers and yet
it's easy to feel the piece being worked on.

We buy Vetwrap by the case because we have accident prone dogs
(greyhounds have skin like tissue paper…). Since it was already
here, I tried using Vetwrap to protect my fingers when I was using
the Foredom to remove sprues from castings. When the casting got
warm, the coating on the vetwrap stuck to the metal and was nearly
impossible to remove. Left the castings the same color as the
Vetwrap. Pickle didn’t touch it. Acetone just smeared it around. I
ended up having to use methyl-ethyl-ketone to get it off. MEK is not
something I want to have to handle every time I grind sprues. I think
I’ll leave the Vetwrap for use on the dogs. It’s fine if whatever you
are handling doesn’t get any warmer than skin temperature.

Lansinoh is a great product, found in the baby aisle. It’s an
anti-chafing ointement for nursing mothers, totally safe, and kind
of the human equivalent of bag balm. It works great on chapped
hands. You only need a little bit, and it heals everything.

FYI, Lansinoh is great for most nursing moms, but I thought you
might be interested to know that it's an animal product, from
sheep, and anyone who has a wool allergy will be sensitive to it.

I thought I would pass this on, in case anybody wanted to try
Lansinoh. I was not aware that Lansinoh was a sheep product, so
here’s the caveat. FYI, wool makes me itch, but I’ve never had
trouble using this product. Although that probably says more about
me than the Lansinoh.

Moisturizers are a mix of water and some sort of grease or oil (with
perfumes to justify some ridiculous price) to prevent evaporization
from the skin. Nitrile, polyethylene or latex gloves eliminate
evaporization, perspiration accumulates and the skin stays
damp-eventually getting that ugly, wrinkled, water-logged look.
Under these circumstances the edges of a crack stay soft, movement
causes less disruption of the tissue at the bottom of the crack and
healing is enhanced. The mechanism is similar to the rapid healing
when to crack is supper glued together.

While these things help the healing of cracks they don’t address the
cause of the cracking. In a high percentage of people with cracking
a deficiency of omega-3 oils in the diet is a causal factor. So–when
you start wearing the gloves begin supplementing your diet with fish
or flax and when you tire of the gloves you may find that the problem
doesn’t come back.

Sorry again for the late posting, but I would just like to say
’thank you’ to Dr. Mac for his suggestion about the use of flax oil.
After a couple of weeks of trying a dessertspoon of flax oil twice a
day (in porridge in the morning, in a smoothie late afternoon) I
find a significant reduction in the skin problems I get every
winter.

My hands have to put up with a lot of abuse from chemicals,
abrasives and the like in the workshop and studio. In winter, since
about my late fifties (I am now sixty), I also get dry and itching
skin, and some patches of eczema. Both these problems have been
alleviated with the flax oil, rather better than by anything else I
have tried (except refraining from hand abuse, which is not
currently an option, and summer sunshine, which is not under my
control).